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DATTA NAIK TOPPLES SHENOI GOEMBAB FROM PEDESTAL!
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DATTA NAIK TOPPLES SHENOI GOEMBAB FROM PEDESTAL!

July 11- July 17, 2026, Stray Thoughts July 10, 2026 , by

AND a few stray thoughts for yet another Saturday. For a Saturday following the week when Datta Damodar Naik knocked down Shenoi Goembab from the Nagri Konkani pedestal. For a Saturday following the week when there was the long belated recognition of Pundalik Naik in the field of drama. For a Saturday following the week when Serrafin Cotta was elected as the new president of the Konkani Bhasha Mandal. For a Saturday following the week when there was the indefinite agitation and hunger strike of the Cockroach National Party members at the Jantar Mantar in New Delhi.
AND a few stray thoughts on Datta Damodar Naik knocking down Shenoi Goembab from the Nagri Konkani pedestal. Datta Naik, the social activist and builder, has been a fervent supporter of Devanagari (Nagri) Konkani. More importantly he has always helped to support financially important Konkani events.
Datta Naik has been a great fan of Damodar Mauzo and I recall attending many literary events organized by him which were sponsored by Datta Naik. This includes an interaction with the famous Hindi lyricist Gulzar who had been invited to Goa. There have been major conferences on Goan identity linked with Konkani at the Gomantak Vidya Ketan supported by Datta Naik.
Last year virtually coinciding with son Chirag Naik’s entering politics Datta Naik announced a donation of Rs1crore to the Konkani Bhasha Mandal. This is why everyone in the Konkani Nagri family were shocked when he called Shenoi Goembab a casteist. Devanagri Konkani mogi are even more agitated by his charge that Shenoi started writing in Devanagri Konkani because he was humiliated by the Marathi literary crowd. There has been a shift in the stand of Datta Naik in recent years, he has been advocating that Romi Konkani should get equal respect if not equal status. We do not know if this is linked with his son’s political ambitions.
The Romi Konkani stalwarts have a lot of following in the Madgao constituency where Chirag Naik is challenging Digambar Kamat in the assembly elections due early next year. Datta Naik may have been correct in claiming that Shenoi Goembab looked down on the so called lower castes. Historically records talk about Shenoi Goembab being obsessed with the exclusive Saraswat identity. Indeed, he claimed that Saraswats were of Aryan descent. This does not detract from his contribution to developing modern Devanagari Konkani. Datta Naik is entitled to his views on Shenoi Goembab.
In fact, consistently Datta Naik has opposed all caste discrimination. It is petty of him to withdraw or suspend what is left of the one crore donation he made to the Konkani Bhasha Mandal.
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PUNDALIK NAIK RECOGNITION
AND a few stray thoughts on the long belated recognition of Pundalik Naik to the field of drama. It is not widely known that Pundalik Naik is a celebrated writer of Konkani plays in Devanagari. Many of his Konkani plays have been performed by groups not only in Goa but even in Maharashtra. Pundalik Naik, unlike Damodar Mauzo and Uday Bhembre, has not got the recognition he deserves. Pundalik was the chairperson of the Konkani Porjecho Awaz which successfully fought the battle for the recognition of Konkani as the official language of Goa.
Pundalik as chairperson of the Konkani Academy persuaded the Sahitya Academy to consider novels in Romi Konkani for top literature awards. Pundalik is being honored with a Gaurav Puruskar for his Lifetime Contribution to theatre on the occasion of the golden jubilee of theatre in Goa. This essentially means natak which is the Hindu counterpart of theatre or tiatr. Pundalik was honored at the Kala Academy by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on July 10, 2026.

SERAFIN COTA NEW PESIDENT OF KBM
AND a few stray thoughts on the election of Serafin Cota as the new president of the Konkani Bhasha Mandal. As far as I know Serafin is the first Catholic to be appointed president of the Konkani Bhasha Mandal. Serafin has always had his foot in both Romi and Devanagri Konkani camps. I recall that more than two decades ago Serafin staged a play which was a fusion of the natak and the tiatr. Serafin is ideally placed to bridge the gap between Romi Konkani and Nagari Konkari.
Serafin was present and was a keynote speaker at the global Konkani meet organized by Romi stalwarts in Navelim recently on May 30, 2026. Interestingly, Serafin has not condemned Datta Naik’s remarks on Shenoi Goembab. Serafin has suggested that the views of Shenoi Goembab must be seen in the right context of the times he was living in. Sheno Goembab lived when Marathi was dominant in Goa and the Devanagari script in Konkani was yet to be fully developed.

MONSOON RAIN HAS NO RESPECT FOR EXRESSWAYS
AND a few stray thoughts on all the newly built infrastructure across the country including Goa which seem to be unable to withstand the fury of the monsoon rain. It may be recalled that a section a newly built expressway between Mumbai and Pune at a cost of Rs7,000 crore collapsed following heavy showers, particularly in the Western Ghat sections of Maharashtra and the Konkan. Apparently, Mumbai has received more rainfall in a week than New Delhi receives in a year. Climate change is being blamed for the fury of the monsoon. It would appear that the monsoon has bypassed Goa and vented its fury on Mumbai.
Incredibly, the BJP government in Maharashtra insists this is an act of God and not due to corruption in the construction of the new phase of the expressway. A Maharashtra minister even described the death of a student as in the crash of a tree, also as an act of nature. Infra collapse has not been limited to Mumbai. There has been a landslide in the ecologically fragile Wayanad region in Kerala.
In Goa a Rs100 crore floating jetty at Betim reportedly built by the Adani Group was swept away by the heavy rains and the huge tides at the Betul ONGC headquarters. Fishermen and ecologists had warned against building any kind of port on the rocky sea of Betul. Trees of course have been falling like nine pins including a giant banyan tree on the island of Divar.
Tragically, the Revenue Department which is controlled by Babush Monserrate, has earmarked 167 trees in Panjim for felling. The green activists have no option but to approach the Bombay high court to stop the destruction of the green lungs of Panjim and Goa.

COCKROACH PARTY FAST
AND a few stray thoughts on the indefinite agitation and hunger strike of the Cockroach National Party members at the Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. The young strikers have been agitating for over a fortnight, demanding the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. The youth brigade hold him accountable for the leakage of the National Eligibility Test papers for entry to medical colleges. Pradhan is being held morally responsible for the suicide of 15 young students who were agitated about answering a repeat exam after the leakage of the question papers. Pradhan is also considered accountable for the foul CBSE Central Board of Secondary Education exams. In the case of the CBSE it was a major scam in the software contract for online evaluation of the answer papers.
Many of the activists are in a critical state currently, including Sonum Wanchuk. It is not widely known that Wanchuk was the model for the character of the scientist in Aamir Khan’s film “Three Idiots.” Danish Ali, a research student in the JNU, turned critical and had to be hospitalized. But the BJP has no conscience. Pradhan refuses to resign and Modi couldn’t care less.
In fact, Modi is gallavanting all over the world while the students are continuing their protest at Jantar Mantar to date as far as we know.

SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS
AND a last stray thought for yet another Saturday. We have heard of activists being barred from Facebook and even Instagram under orders of the Modi government. Unlike the social media platforms WhatsApp has always claimed that all conversations are confidential. Indeed, when the government asked for the secret code, WhatsApp claimed that even the parent company Meta could not listen in on conversations on What’sApp.
 Now comes the shocking news that Mr AC Michael has been suspended from What’sApp by the government of India. Apparently this is being done because Michael was a part of the Catholic Association of India and has been highlighting atrocities against Christians in India. The news of the ban on What’sApp of Michael comes from Ephraem Jacob, secretary general of the Catholic Association of Delhi.

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